TSM Episode 370: Fashionista Fantasy XV

With the advent of Nomura’s long-awaited desire (turning Final Fantasy from a video game franchise into a fashion line), and Nintendo’s release of Miitomo (a content-free microtransaction-fuelled puerility zone), Lusipurr deploys scorn in great abundance.

Why Nintendo thought that replacing Club Nintendo with this new “My Nintendo Miitomo” system was a good idea is beyond me. Fewer people are going to take part in it, and it isn’t going to get them more money than Club Nintendo was ultimately getting them, so I have no idea why they thought that it was a good idea.

In my opinion, Nintendo ought to have stayed out of the iOS and Android business. There was nothing good to have come from them getting involved in that market. Nothing.

iOS and Android games can be good with an appropriate control scheme, e.g., things like tower defense or CCGs (Hearthstone is fun and frustrating in equal measures).

Attempting to play a traditional game on there without the benefit of a controller is stupid and bad, and the controller “solutions” that exist are so gimmicky or hacky that you’ll find yourself wishing you had just dropped money on a handheld instead.

That said, mobile phones and mobile games are “Bigger in East Asia” than here, so maybe it makes sense for the Japanese/Korean markets (though I doubt it, as match-3 RPGs seem to clean up there).

I do think it funny that Nintendo and Microsoft seem to have businessed themselves out of the console game, despite each having successful first-party titles. Perhaps it is time for them to go the way of SEGA and simply publish games instead of trying to tie them to consoles? PC seems like an optimal distribution platform, is not tied to “generations” of hardware, and with the improvement of in-home streaming technologies, a simple set-top box can give you the living room (or bedroom) experience of playing a game without the need for an individual console in each room.

@Lane: Perhaps it is time for them to go the way of SEGA and simply publish games instead of trying to tie them to consoles?

Maybe, but I don’t cherish the notion of Nintendo trying to put out its games on other platforms. I think what would likely happen in that case is that, without a pressing need to produce some standard of quality in order to keep selling consoles, they really would dive enthusiastically for the lowest common denominator. Imagine a world of flappy-bird quality Mario games dumped on iOS by the reeking shovel-load. It’s not a pleasant thought.

It’s tempting to consider alternatives where Nintendo behaves responsibly as a software developer and devotes themselves to producing serious gaming experiences. But their recent conduct does not suggest that they would carry themselves in such a way: in fact, they have shown a willingness to ‘chase the fad’, and if they were developing for mobile platforms, where such approaches are destructively prevalent, it is more likely than not that they would produce games of lower, not higher, quality than at present.

“Diving enthusiastically for the lowest common denominator” would just bring them on par with everyone else.

Used to you could count on the Japanese companies to adopt the Japanese corporate model and have some resistance to the quarterly goals and shareholder demagoguery of the Western corporate model. I guess those halcyon days are over and we can look forward to more and more games rushed to press to meet sales goals.

Artistry is taking a backseat to the boardroom. Oh well, there’s always indie games on Greenlight, right?

The Miitomo sounds are sounds, I think, from an app. I think you can manipulate the app to make it say what you want. Not sure. I haven’t ever installed or used the app. I also don’t know how to read or write, and I can’t see or hear. I don’t own an internet box anymore, since my WebTV broke down and the shits won’t replace it.

I find it curious that the comment from Authentic Reader(tm) “Not Sebastian” seems to have changed in tone a bit since it was originally posted… So odd. I suppose I was just ‘tired’ when I wrot- er, read it yesterday.